Each morning and throughout the day, Zoe and Tia deposited letters and invitations on my table. Zoe knew how to sort them by importance and which ones I would likely accept, and Tia was also learning. 

“My lady! There’s an invitation from the princess!"

I raised my head from my books immediately. Tia was waving a sheet of paper excitedly, her eyes wide. She was slowly memorizing each family’s crest, but everyone knew the royal family’s symbol, a roaring lion. 

“Give it.”

I scowled as I snatched the invitation from her hands, and the disgusting yet unfortunately familiar handwriting greeted me. 

I was asked to attend a lovely tea party, tomorrow afternoon. It would be like a soldier going to war, fighting against my mortal enemy in another battle. 

“Come, Tia. I have to prepare right away.”

What dress to wear? The most elaborate one, of course, to demonstrate our wealth and power. There was no need for modesty here, our relationship was already ruined beyond repair. The only purpose of attending was to absolutely crush her. 

What jewels to wear? The most expensives and shiny ones, and as many as I could. The more she despised my apparent shallowness, the more I was going to rub it in her face. 

When to get there? Fashionably late, as always, to assert dominance. 

What to do there? Insult everyone, and destroy Her Highness until she dies of shame. 

“My lady, your face looks so scary!” 

“Shut up.”

Wait a minute… That was what I would like to do, what I did everytime. If something was fun, it was likely not the proper thing to do. Oh, no.

Plainly speaking, I would rather kill myself than tolerate Princess Elizabeth, my one sworn nemesis. She wouldn’t buy it anyways, so it should be fine, right? 

Ah, whatever! After all, she was just one person. If needed, I could improve my reputation with every single other noble, one exception won’t make a difference. 

Now, what shoes should I wear? I should consult Mother on the best overall outfit… 

When I went to bed that night, I was completely satisfied. I had plotted with Mother to design the perfect look, to completely embarrass the princess tomorrow. It was going to be the most fun I had in a great while. 

“My lady, why do you dislike the princess?”

“None of your business. One more word, and I’m taking Zoe tomorrow.”

“Sorry, my lady.”

My relationship with Princess Elizabeth Stoneshire was a long story, starting when we were both toddlers, with me pouring a hot cup of tea onto her head, her slapping me, and the resulting brawl. In my defense, no one had ever dared to slap me before, and though I couldn’t remember what it exactly was, I was sure the princess had deserved the burns she got. 

In addition, she was the only girl of a higher rank than me. Her followers, who normally never had the courage to oppose me, all became ridiculously brave with her backing them. Besides that, her animosity towards femininity was sickening, in this world where women had the same rights as men. In other words, she was the definition of ‘not like other girls’, or a pick me girl. 

I went to bed dreaming of her downfall, which was nice. 

The next afternoon I slowly strode towards the garden, taking my time. Tia chattered away, but I ignored her. We turned the corner and the table came into sight, decked with confections and sweets. The princess and the other noble children were all already seated, talking and laughing. 

“My, have you started without me?”

Heads turned in my direction, and the conversation came to a halt. 

I looked truly stunning, and I knew that well, given I had spent more than enough time twirling in the mirror and admiring myself. My pink dress was the perfect blend of pretty and cute, with just the right amount of frills, lace, and bows, because you could never have too much. My jewels twinkled under the sunlight, and I was a picture perfect doll. 

It was the exact opposite of what Prince Elizabeth stood for, and I watched with glee as her mouth dropped open slightly. She glared like all the pink hurt her eyes, and fired right back. 

“Only because you took so long. Did you spend an hour glued to the mirror again?”

I could let this one go, as a show of courtesy, and to prove that at least I tried. 

“But where are my manners? Good afternoon, Your Highness.”

“Good afternoon, Lady Valentina. Any longer, and it’ll be evening.”

That was it. What happened next would entirely be her fault, but I got her to greet me, and even though it was entirely out of forced politeness, I was sure it would be the first of a series of victories. 

I sat down across from the princess, and the real match began. 

“If you had taken some more time in looking after your own appearance, Your Highness, perhaps you wouldn’t be a disgrace to the royal family.”

“And where would we be, everyone looking after their clothes instead of their duties?”

Princess Elizabeth wasn’t ugly, sharing the genes of the male lead. She had auburn hair and the golden eyes of the royal family, and a fairly decent face with short hair. However, next to my glamour, she was nothing, kept back by her belief that beauty’s only purpose was to serve vanity

I could not understand that in any way. Perhaps she didn’t need to worry about her reputation with her stable status as a princess, but did she not enjoy being beautiful? Even if not, she still had no right to dictate that others could not take pleasure in it. 

“We would have a princess that doesn’t bring shame to our kingdom.”

“Better than a princess that acts like a certain grand duke’s daughter, useulessly lazing around all day, glued to her mirror.”

“Could you possibly be speaking of me? I’m so hurt, Your Highness!”

It was my attempt to use the pity of others instead of fighting back myself, like the female lead constantly did. At the momentary silence that fell, it clearly did not work. It was probably just because everyone here was on the princess’s side, and that it was so against my usual style. Well, I had plenty of time to practice, but for today, it would be real and brutal. 

Princess Elizabeth leaned in, sneering. 

“You can fool everyone else, but not me. I know that you haven’t changed one bit, you’re just as superficial and frivolous as before.”

“Isn’t that too harsh, Your Highness? Look at yourself, don’t you think it’s utter hypocrisy? How many lessons are you taking? What have you done at all?”

“I know your father paid the tutors to say good things about you. I know you’re actually terrible, and refusing to face it. It’s so pathetic, I pity you and your stupidity.”

It would have been so easy to throw my plate of cake at her face, and it was because of my excellent self control that I didn’t. 

“And how much gold did His Majesty have to spend to have the commoners stop talking about how you were illiterate? Not counting the amount to foreign ambassadors, to stop our kingdom from being humiliated internationally?”

“None, as untrue rumours dissipate naturally, unlike the ones of your corrupt family.”

This was a real trap capable of doing real harm, and I knew better than to fall into it. 

“What horrible tutors you must have, that you don’t know not to make false accusations.”

“Should you really be asking me that, with all the gossip you and your friends go on endlessly about? It’s why I don’t associate with other noble girls, with all their drama and backstabbing, but no intellect of any kind.”

The last part was clearly directed at the girls in our audience, which was mostly made up of the losers no one else wanted. I remembered several fiascos about many of them, their insensitivity and rudeness that they claimed to be honesty having gotten them disowned by all the other social groups, like that viscount’s daughter who had insulted Delilah’s family, who glowered at me. They all thought they were so special for their inability to possess dignity. 

Unlike my group, there were many boys here, making up more than half of the attendees. They were from fairly influential families too, and nodding along, completely fallen for her so-called uniqueness. 

My blood boiled and my nails dug into the porcelain of my teacup. She was repulsive like a crushed slug or a dead toad, and I wanted nothing more than to throttle her. 

“Can you do half of what Lady Delilah is able to, she, who is attending the academy next year? As advice to a friend, I suggest you learn self defense, but put effort into it for once. We wouldn’t want an accident to happen to our princess.”

“Oh? Is that a threat, Lady Valentina?”

Her eyes glinted, eager for me to take the bait, but I was no idiot. I calmly sipped my tea.

“Merely a warning, Your Highness, lest your incompetency makes a laughingstock out of our kingdom, which I believe you to be quite possible of.”

“There is no need for me to, when your arrogance and conceit can do it much better. You inherited it from your mother, I presume.”

“And you must have inherited that insolence from yours.”

“Are you insulting Her Majesty?”

“Why, were you insulting Her Grace?”

We stared daggers at each other as we both drank some tea, our mouths dry from verbally abusing each other. This went on for the rest of the afternoon, until the appropriate time for a tea party to end finally arrived. 

“Thank you very much, Your Highness, for inviting me today. I enjoyed it very much.”

Princess Elizabeth answered my fake smile with hers, but it wasn’t as pure and natural as mine was, from being trained by Mother. To my surprise, she came to my side and embraced me, her lips beside my ear. 

“One day, I’ll expose to the world what a narcissist you are.”

I returned her whisper with my own. No one else could hear, so I could unleash my true wrath.

“One day, I’ll rip your head off and feed your limbs to rats.”

When we parted, her face was contorted with rage, and I wore a smug smirk. Obviously, she had never learned to control her expressions, though I myself only did recently. However, like every time this happened before, I considered myself the winner, yet again. 

Princess Elizabeth Stoneshire would become a close friend to the female lead, and a powerful supporter. I would never allow that to happen, if somehow the female lead made it to court despite my efforts. 

When I became queen, she would be the first to go. The holy saint, punishing a wicked princess. I loved the sound of that.